Company founder, Max Gray, established Max Gray Lumber and Construction Company, Inc. in the 1930s as a lumberyard and residential home builder in Hibbing, Minnesota. In the mid-1940s A.R. (Bob) Erickson joined the company, became manager of operations, and in the early 1960s he and two partners bought out Max Gray. Shortly thereafter Mr. Erickson bought out his partners to become the sole owner.